JULIE AND MARK'S WEDDING

March, 2009 in Certaldo

"When I exited the front door of the Osteria and turned to my right, I could see the violinist in front of me and he began to play Vivaldi Spring. Just before I reached him, he turned towards the town hall and led me there and through the town hall gates. There were tourists and locals around by I didn’t really notice them. I think I may have smiled at a few of them. I noticed the beauty of everything around me and the music. The violinist passed through the gates of the town hall first and then I did. I joined my fiance at the alter and he kissed my cheek. The ceremony began. The officiant spoke Italian and the WP translated. There were official matters to cover as well as a reading by our friend, Gabriel's Oboe from the film Mission by the violinist, our ring exchange and our vows. The entire event was magical and perfect. There were tourists watching which was fine but they were a bit noisy and I guess one of them wondered up to the guest in his Bermuda shorts and had to be escorted back. We exited the town hall and took some photos. We then made our way a short distance to Bar Boccaccio for champagne. Our friends gave very nice toasts. Ny new husband and and I then left with the photographer and videographer to take photos and video. The violinist remained with the guest on the patio and later told us he was very good. We took photos and video in the town and out in the countryside. When we returned to our guests, our friend was waiting with gelato cones which made for some fun wedding photos. We returned to the Osteria courtyard with our guests and had champagne and cut the cake. Before sitting down to dinner. Mark made a lovely toast to our guests and then one to me that made us both cry. We then started on our first of five delicious dinner courses and finished with a traditional wedding cake. We took turns telling stories during dinner. It was wonderful wedding and I would highly recommend this location."

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Venues

Band:

"We booked this single violinist 1.5 – 2 hours. 230 euros. I told him I did not want to hear “here comes the bride” or the “wedding march” but would otherwise would like him to choose and arrange the music for the processional, signing of the register, and recessional. Something classic, beautiful and preferably Italian. I also asked him to select the music for the aperitifs at Bar Boccaccio. He was wonderful.
I pretty much gave him free reign to play want he wanted to."

Caterer:

"We had our wedding dinner here and we very pleased. We had five courses and Italian wedding cake (which was probably one course too many). The cost for eight people with five bottles of wine was 721E which I felt was a very good value."

Florist:

Photographer:

"He was a likable person and comfortable to be around. His English was just OK and he relied on the videographer for most of the communication. He gave us very little direction about posture, hand placement, etc. At some point after Mark told him I snowboarded he started showing us his portfolio which included shots of snowboarders. While I would have normally liked to see him, I would have preferred to be taking photos of visiting with my guests at this particular time. The three photos he sent us the next day for our wedding announcement were not good and we used a photo a friend took with her iPhone for the electronic wedding announcement. The CD of wedding photos arrived early which was great. There were several photos that were very good. There were also several photos that I felt would have been spectacular if he’d just given us a little direction. He took several photos that would have been wonderful if one of us hadn’t been talking, for example. We paid a deposit of $269USD when we booked and we paid the balance of 643 euros the day of the wedding."

Hotel:

"There are five rooms on the second floor. We and our wedding guests occupied four of them. Rooms 1 & 2 are small but have wardrobes. Room 3 is so small that there is not room for a wardrobe but it does have a ceiling fan and a painted mural on the wall. We stayed in room 4 which was the largest room but does not have a ceiling fan. Room 5 is a messy storage room with an unmade single bed and unfortunately the door is left open some of the time. Outside of the five rooms there is a desk and a dining table with six chairs. This was a nice space for our group to use. From here you can look out large windows to the dining courtyard and below and the terrace just beyond that. From the room windows we could see the street below and if we looked to the right, the street in front of the town hall (from which I saw 2 wedding parties) before my own. The rooms are rustic with worn stone floors. There was a thin rug on each side of the bed that wasn’t really functional. The bathrooms were reasonably updated but when we took showers the water temperature was constantly uneven. So during a shower, every 10 seconds or so there would be a burst of cold water. Even though our room has a wardrobe, there was very little storage space which meant the room was always messy. This would not have been a big deal but our wedding guests were often coming in and out of our room and the photographer and videographer also came into the room while I was getting ready and it was somewhat uncomfortable for me. Overall, the evenings were very noisy. The owner has a sweet 9 month old baby that was crying for quite some time the first night we were there. We could hear people walking out on the street and guests in the restaurant. The bells start chiming at 7am. We had earplugs so the noise wasn’t a big problem but memorable just the same. Another general comment I have about the place is that the common areas are messy. There are just lots of stuff lying around. It’s not dirty, just messy. Sara is the owner and had been for fifteen years. She was 19 when she started. She was very personable and accommodating. Daniele was also very nice and accommodating. We had a good experience with all of the employees. We were disappointed to learn the wireless isn’t working but Sara insisted we use the computer behind their reception desk whenever we want. While this was helpful, it was still not ideal that we didn’t have wireless. We were quoted 110E but charged 100E per night (possibly due to the lack of wireless) This price included a very nice breakfast and bottles of water throughout the day. Overall, I would say this was a good value."